WI:Spice/herb from Mainland North America (North of Rio Grande)

As far as I can tell, in terms of valuable *new* products from the northern part of North America (north of the Rio Grande) consisted of Tobacco* and Live Oak (Virginia/Carolinas) used for building ships.

The abundance of Beaver after centuries after more or less wiping them out of Europe was certainly profitable, but that wasn't new. Tobacco while native to the Continent of North America appears to have first grown commercially from seeds brought from the Caribbean)

I'm wondering what sort of effects that a new Spice/herb from north of the Rio Grande might have on colonization efforts etc in the 1600s onward.

Note, it really depends on where it is in North America, if it is native to the Northern Rockies, it might escape notice until the late 1700s or early 1800s.
 
Is this ASB? In my opinion, (you would have to ask the mods about this, 'cause I'm not an expert) this looks like an evolutionary POD. Calbear posted a thread stating that all evolutionary and geological PODs are officially ASB and will be placed in that forum as such.
 
It would have to be adapted to a very specific climate (or consumed in very large quantities, like tobacco) to have an impact on colonisation patterns. American spices like vanilla, allspice and chili usually ended up adopted by growers overseas rather than imported. That was only done where the required climate didn't exist closer to home (as for cocoa). The only other way I see this making a difference is if it's effectively a large-scale cash crop that can drive colonisation by slave plantations. But that would not make a big dent - after all, rice and sugar are old-world.
 
It wouldn't necessarily be an evolutionary POD. There are several Timelines about alternate domestications that are perfectly suitable in Pre-1900.

As for the actual topic, the only plant I can think of that might work is Ginseng. It's used in Chineses medicine and was historically exported to China from North America by the British and Americans. You could have demand for ginseng develop in European culture and then it would work as a "spice" that attracts people to North America.
 

Driftless

Donor
It wouldn't necessarily be an evolutionary POD. There are several Timelines about alternate domestications that are perfectly suitable in Pre-1900.

As for the actual topic, the only plant I can think of that might work is Ginseng. It's used in Chineses medicine and was historically exported to China from North America by the British and Americans. You could have demand for ginseng develop in European culture and then it would work as a "spice" that attracts people to North America.

Good thought on Ginseng. Once upon a time it was mainly a woodland find - Still very high value.

Nowdays, it's big $$, manually intensive commercially farmed crop in Central Wisconsin.

ginseng_both_challenging_rewarding_crop_edgar_grower_1_635182070537116947.jpg


42919772_ginseng.jpg
 
Is this ASB? In my opinion, (you would have to ask the mods about this, 'cause I'm not an expert) this looks like an evolutionary POD. Calbear posted a thread stating that all evolutionary and geological PODs are officially ASB and will be placed in that forum as such.

To me this isn't that far from asking the question that eventually became the TL Land of Red and Gold which is in Pre-1900...
 
It would have to be adapted to a very specific climate (or consumed in very large quantities, like tobacco) to have an impact on colonisation patterns. American spices like vanilla, allspice and chili usually ended up adopted by growers overseas rather than imported. That was only done where the required climate didn't exist closer to home (as for cocoa).

So the issue is that if the Spice was found in OTL Maryland then the explorers could take it back to France and grow it there? (That would work unless it needs both warm summer temperatures and a hard freeze)

If so, then to fulfill the requirement, you need a place in that area of North America which doesn't have an equivalent climatic zone in Europe, which more or less is the swamps of the American Southeast (or theoretically extreme arctic conditions in the Canadian arctic).
 
So the issue is that if the Spice was found in OTL Maryland then the explorers could take it back to France and grow it there? (That would work unless it needs both warm summer temperatures and a hard freeze)

If so, then to fulfill the requirement, you need a place in that area of North America which doesn't have an equivalent climatic zone in Europe, which more or less is the swamps of the American Southeast (or theoretically extreme arctic conditions in the Canadian arctic).

Yes. That, or it is not something you can cultivate. Ginseng sounds like a very good bet because it is not easy to grow and gathering it in the wild requires huge territories to work over. However, that also makes it a better candidate for trade than settlement - like beaver, something to get from the locals.

This is actually not that easy because the flora of Northern North America is quite similar to that of Europe. Most of its useful plants ended up being given the names of their European counterparts for that reason (very few people in Europe realise e.g. that 'strawberry' today is American strawberry, not European). Finding a plant that is similar enough to fit European culinary patterns, but exotic or demanding enough not to simply be grown in European fields is hard.
 
But why care what could only be grown here when imperialism left our smuggling the only real source of anything in the Americas other than totally local crops. And Chinese valued our smuggling runs enough that fortunes were made fast,

And Live Oak is so much not ordinary that it was the secret on our "Old Ironsides" Six Frigate hulls. I wanted to grow one in my lawn, but decided it'd be too much trouble to trim.
 
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